Nicholas Burns defends US-India nuke deal

Washington, Mar 9: Defending the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, Under Secretary of State for Political Affair, Nicholas Burns has said it enjoyed multi-lateral support and will bring India's civilian nuclear programme into the international non-proliferation mainstream.

Mr Burns, testifying before the House International Relations Committee yesterday (Mar 8, 2006), was replying to Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman who raised certain concerns about the deal.

Mr Ackerman, who is also co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, wanted to know how the Bush administration plans to muster international support against Iran's nuclear standoff while it had bent rules for providing sensitive technology to India, which had not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).

Mr Burns, who was the top negotiator on the deal, said the two nations could not be compared. ''While India is seeking inclusion in the non-proliferation regime, Iran is seeking exclusion. In fact, Iran is doing everything to kick the idea out,''he added.

India and Iran, in fact, are moving in the opposite direction.

UNI

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